


Decline

by theinconceivabletruth



Series: Tao Meditations [4]
Category: Log Horizon
Genre: Contemplation, Gen, Tao - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23742010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theinconceivabletruth/pseuds/theinconceivabletruth
Summary: Shiroe is hard at working managing the Alliance, when a difficult question occurs to him.Day 215: DeclinePart of a series of daily writing exercises, based on a book of daily Tao meditations.
Series: Tao Meditations [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1710055
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Decline

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a series based on 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, using each day's theme as a prompt. The poem at the beginning is taken from the book, and does not belong to me.

_ Fog chills heaven to gray,  _

_ Nights come earlier.  _

_ Everyone knows decline,  _

_ But few discern its border.  _

The breakdown in cohesion amongst the members of the Round Table after Krusty’s disappearance did not surprise Shiroe. It was disappointing, but not surprising or even particularly sad. Shiroe had expected the cooperation of the Round Table to inevitably decline. The Council had been forced together by one crisis, and weathered through another one only by some fairly extreme measures on Shiroe’s own part. A third, resulting in the disappearance of a crucial member, could only cause fragmentation.

On the whole, they had mostly been experiencing the fruits of summer labor. They had not worked through any internal leadership changes, which Shiroe knew would be the greatest struggle, or even shifting interests and goals as people acclimatized to a new world. Rise and decline were a natural cycle; Krusty was only a catalyst. Shiroe would carefully plan for the decline, and equally carefully not overreact to it. Panic would only lead back into disaster. Decline, in and of itself, was not a disaster. It was like the coming of night, or the onset of age, or the changing of the seasons - all inevitable. 

Shiroe’s pen paused on the page before him. There was something about that last thought that was wrong. It didn’t take long for him to parse it. 

_ How could I forget? _ Shiroe thought.  _ Adventurers do not die. There have been no visible signs of aging, although we haven’t been here long. _ He tried to reassure himself. _ It may be nearly imperceptible over this span of time.  _

The calm he had been maintaining slowly seeped away as a new problem presented itself. It was a variable he had yet to truly include in his planning considerations. 

How do beings of change - which all humans are - react to being frozen unchanging? 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is welcome, but please bear in mind that these have minimal editing in terms of grammar. I did these a while ago but decided to post them now.
> 
> There are several other works in this series, from multiple fandoms.


End file.
